Hi ladies. Is this something that runs hand in hand with endo? Had my lap back in March, but a lot of my symptoms are returning I'm currently waiting to see my gyno at the end of Oct, but my gp thinks it's my endo that has come back. Having looked into the symptoms, I think it sounds more like adenomyosis. Lower back pain, hair loss, extreme fatigue, pain sitting down (rectal pain - awful) painful sex and others. I found these on adenomyosisadviceassociatio... but have looked at a lot of past posts and feel like it could be a possibility. Would it not have been picked up during my lap though? Is it common to have both? Any advice welcomed xx

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They are separate and women have one or the other generally - though there are some ladies who have both - they are separate diseases. Adeno is only found inside muscle tissue of the uterus, endo grows on surfaces of anything.

Danielle who set up the website is a member of this forum too.

Adeno is very rarely picked up in a lap. If you are lucky enough to have the adeno active and bleeding at the time of the lap then the walls of the uterus can appear visually with a bumpy lumpy surface. But if the adeno is deeper in the muscle or dormant and not on full bleed at the time of the op it would be extremely unlikely that it would or could be seen by the camera.

An MRI scan done when you are on a period or just after finishing a period can pick up the lumps of trapped bleeding in the uterus muscle is one way to check for Adeno signs. A thickened uterus muscle is another sign.

It is not something that is hand in hand with endo. Very separate conditions with striking similar symptoms though and it is easy to confuse the two if you have not had the tests to diagnose one or the other ...or both.

Thanks for the info Impatient. I thought they sounded like different diseases but I think my head is a bit all over the place to take it all in at the moment - I was just astounded by the symptoms that I'm having at the moment. Particularly the sudden, labour-type pain - which I keep getting told is cysts bursting. Will bring it up at my appointment in Oct.

Here is an article about some of the similarities and differences between endometriosis and adenomyosis you might find helpful: hystersisters.com/vb2/artic...

Adenomyosis can cause a large, boggy type uterus which could be seen during a lap, but otherwise a lap looks at the outside of the uterus and adenomyosis exists inside the uterus.

Keeping a detailed symptom diary can help you and your doctor figure out what might be going on. Doing that helped my doctors see there was more than endo causing symptoms. Here are some tips for doing that: hystersisters.com/vb2/artic...